It is Official

So we finally took the plunge to see a (live and in-person) psychologist for us as a couple. I knew that I wanted to see a professional for my own sanity, and when we stumbled across an online counselor, Terry agreed to getting an official diagnosis. I thought it was a good approach because of Terry's processing time, I didn't want to waste a session of him going blank with, essentially, test anxiety. The online counselor was not a good experience and she basically said that Terry exhibited NO criteria of Aspergers (cue: mouth hanging open in shock). She basically took an initial write-up from me and Terry (individually) and the she each gave us a questionnaire. There were very few follow-up questions to clarify our answers so she really took them at face value which was not the smart thing to do in my opinion because Terry is much more "social" in writing than verbally (Have you seen his blog? He's quite witty.) and his writings aren't always representative of how he presents himself in person. It was kind of funny because the new lady we are seeing looked at us the same way as to say "say what?" This is how she presented her official diagnosis: "This smells like classic Aspergers." I like her. She's funny.

I loved the way she asked more questions to probe deeper into what we were saying. "Forget about what you think you're supposed to do, what is it that you initially want to do?" That is so key I think with Adults who have experienced the social training of Life or even of College like in Terry's case. It is also so sad for high functioning aspies like Terry to be over looked for, ahem, 36 years with no support because of their ability to "appear" typical when it truly is a daily struggle for him to just be in a world of other people.

What is our homework? Extreme, crazy structure in the household. The OCD in me is soooooo happy! The ADD in me is sooooooooooooooo frightened!

Terry was also tasked with reading the Attwood book and to make an appointment with a psychiatrist, bascially to get in the next available appointment (in 2-3 months) in the event he needs to see one.